Post by Fredeghar Wayfarer on Nov 29, 2016 20:50:14 GMT -6
Hi guys! I've been working my way through some of the volumes of The History of Middle-earth lately. I'm going out of order though since A. I don't own them all yet and B. I'm reading the stories that interest me most.
I was a little leery at first of Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand since I'm usually not a big fan of poetry. But I ended up really enjoying this book. Tolkien's poetry is very compelling. It's like reading a lost work of Elvish literature.
The Lay of the Children of Hurin is in alliterative verse, emulating the style of Old English epics like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Reading this reminded me of my days as an English major in college. The alliteration and present-participle verbs ("gleaming," "seeking," etc.) can get a bit tedious at times but it does create a unique sound and rhythm. I found that being familiar with the story was both good and bad. Good since it helped me understand the archaic language better. Bad because this is now the fifth or sixth version of this story that I've read between Children of Hurin, Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Lost Tales, etc. I'm getting a bit tired of it to be honest.
That said, there were some cool details in this one. Orodreth was surprisingly interesting. In The Sil, he's a bit of a non-entity, mainly the interim king between Finrod and Gil-galad. Here however he's written as a very intense and imposing lord of an underground realm. He felt similar to gods and faerie kings of Celtic myths where mortals have strayed into the Otherworld and must face its ruler. I have a new appreciation for this character and a better visual of his realm, Nargothrond.
The poetic Children of Hurin was okay but a bit of a slog to get through at times. However, I absolutely loved the Lay of Leithian! This is the Beren and Luthien story, which is more romantic, adventurous, and less depressing than Hurin. But also, I really enjoyed the style of it. It's in rhyming couplets, which gives it a very melodic flow. I think this is the style that Tolkien used for some of the poems in The Hobbit. It felt instantly familiar to me. In fact, I could almost hear John Huston as the animated Gandalf reciting this poem in my head.
Some fun bits: Sauron has not quite emerged in his final form yet. Here, he is the necromancer Thu and is described as a sorcerer in a dark hooded cloak. I like to imagine that this is a form Sauron took in the First Age to disguise his true power (I know that the HoME stories are early versions that were revised. But it's fun to consider all of it canon, just recorded with minor differences by scribes through the ages). The scene where Thu has Beren and Finrod captive was very dramatic. I love how he was testing their loyalty by asking riddles about Morgoth's power and seeing if they denied his claims ("Whom do you serve, Light or Mirk? Who is the maker of mightiest work? Who is the king of earthly kings, the greatest giver of gold and rings?"). Nice foreshadowing of Sauron's later history with rings.
There's lots of other cool stuff (forbidden romance, prophecies, feuding elf-lords, werewolves, vampires, giant talking dogs, etc.) but you guys know the story already. It was really fun reading a more fleshed out and almost musical version of the tale. It really made me wish that Tolkien had finished the poem.
Who else has read this book and what did you think of it?
I was a little leery at first of Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand since I'm usually not a big fan of poetry. But I ended up really enjoying this book. Tolkien's poetry is very compelling. It's like reading a lost work of Elvish literature.
The Lay of the Children of Hurin is in alliterative verse, emulating the style of Old English epics like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Reading this reminded me of my days as an English major in college. The alliteration and present-participle verbs ("gleaming," "seeking," etc.) can get a bit tedious at times but it does create a unique sound and rhythm. I found that being familiar with the story was both good and bad. Good since it helped me understand the archaic language better. Bad because this is now the fifth or sixth version of this story that I've read between Children of Hurin, Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Lost Tales, etc. I'm getting a bit tired of it to be honest.
That said, there were some cool details in this one. Orodreth was surprisingly interesting. In The Sil, he's a bit of a non-entity, mainly the interim king between Finrod and Gil-galad. Here however he's written as a very intense and imposing lord of an underground realm. He felt similar to gods and faerie kings of Celtic myths where mortals have strayed into the Otherworld and must face its ruler. I have a new appreciation for this character and a better visual of his realm, Nargothrond.
The poetic Children of Hurin was okay but a bit of a slog to get through at times. However, I absolutely loved the Lay of Leithian! This is the Beren and Luthien story, which is more romantic, adventurous, and less depressing than Hurin. But also, I really enjoyed the style of it. It's in rhyming couplets, which gives it a very melodic flow. I think this is the style that Tolkien used for some of the poems in The Hobbit. It felt instantly familiar to me. In fact, I could almost hear John Huston as the animated Gandalf reciting this poem in my head.
Some fun bits: Sauron has not quite emerged in his final form yet. Here, he is the necromancer Thu and is described as a sorcerer in a dark hooded cloak. I like to imagine that this is a form Sauron took in the First Age to disguise his true power (I know that the HoME stories are early versions that were revised. But it's fun to consider all of it canon, just recorded with minor differences by scribes through the ages). The scene where Thu has Beren and Finrod captive was very dramatic. I love how he was testing their loyalty by asking riddles about Morgoth's power and seeing if they denied his claims ("Whom do you serve, Light or Mirk? Who is the maker of mightiest work? Who is the king of earthly kings, the greatest giver of gold and rings?"). Nice foreshadowing of Sauron's later history with rings.
There's lots of other cool stuff (forbidden romance, prophecies, feuding elf-lords, werewolves, vampires, giant talking dogs, etc.) but you guys know the story already. It was really fun reading a more fleshed out and almost musical version of the tale. It really made me wish that Tolkien had finished the poem.
Who else has read this book and what did you think of it?